Work guide for woodworking machines and the like



March 1, 1955 B. H. WALKER 2,703,120

' WORK GUIDE FOR WOODWORKING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. '7, 1953 2Sheets-Sheet l .IN V EN TOR.

BEMNYM/ V W4L KEA KITTUF/VfYS M r 1955 B. H. WALKER 2$703,120

WORK GUIDE FOR WOODWORKING MACHINES AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 7, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

flay/42w W44 K5? United States Patent WORK GUIDE FOR WOODWORKINGMACHINES AND THE LIKE It is conventional construction in variouswoodworking machines such as planets, saws, etc., to provide a bed alongwhich a length of wood stock is fed, a straight edge member againstwhich the stock is held during its movement over the bed, and a springguide spaced from said straight edge member for biasing the stocklaterally into engagement with the straight-edge member.

Heretofore, the guide means used for'urging the wood stock toward thestraight edge member has required manual adjustment, for wide and narrowstock, and as a result, the production, has been adversely affected, dueto the length of time required in the making of the necessary manualadjustments.

It has been proposed, in this regard, to provide leaf spring means whichis bodily shiftable in the direction of the length of stock, by reasonof its being anchored to a pivotally swingable block. This arrangement,however, utilizes only a single leaf spring engaging the length ofstock, and it is, accordingly, one important object of the presentinvention to provide a work guide including a pair of independentlypivoted blocks each of which is provided with a leaf spring, said leafsprings extending in opposite directions for engaging the length of woodstock at locations spaced along, the length thereof, the independentpivoting of the blocks being adapted to permit each leaf spring to yieldindependently of the other. The arrangement has been found to beparticularly effective where lengths of stock differing widely from fromone another as to the transverse dimensions thereof are being fedthrough the machine. Further, the arrangement is of value, in view ofthe fact that a'single length of stock may have different widths atdifferent locations spaced along the length thereof.

A further object of importance is to provide a work guide as statedwherein the pivoted blocks on which the respective leaf springs areanchored are resiliently urged away from one another, in oppositedirections about their pivot axes,'by a single coil spring extendingbetween the same, said spring being adapted to cause both blocks toswing to positions in which the free ends of the leaf spring associatedtherewith will be urged against the length of wood stock.

Still another object is to provide, in a work guide of thecharacter'referred to, a stop means or'bumper for one of the pivotedblocks, which stop means will pre vent swinging movement'of theblockadjacent thereto beyond a predetermined, selected position; saidposition being adapted to hold the leaf spring anchored to the blockengaged by the stop means a substantial distance away from the straightedge member of the wood-working machine. By reason of this arrangement,an open space is defined between said one leaf springand the straightedge member, into which a length'of stock can be fed.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claimsappended thereto, and from the annexed drawings, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several v views, andwherein:

Figure l is a top plan view of a work guide formed in accordance withthe present inventi o r1,-a woodworking machine on which the guide ismounted beingillustrated fragmentarily and in top plan;

Figure 2 is a side elevationalview of the work guide and of thewoodworking machine, the machine again being: shown fragmentarily;

Figure 3 is an'enlarged longitudinal sectional view 2,703,120 PatentedMar. 1, 1955 2 through the work guide per se, taken substantially online 3-3 of Figure l;

Figure 4 (sheet 1) is a plan sectional view, also on an enlarged scale,taken substantially on line 4-4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view on line 55 of Figure 3.

The reference letter B has been applied in the drawing to a conventionallength of wood stock, in the form of a board being fed over the bed of awoodworking machine designated generally by the'reference numeral 10. Inthe illustrated example the woodworking machine is a planer, but as willbe apparent from the description to be provided hereinafter, the deviceconstituting the present invention can be used to advantage with any ofvarious machines through which boards or other types of wood stock arefed in the direction of their lengths.

The present invention has been designated generally at 12, and ismounted upon the bed 14 of the planer, in spaced relation to the feedrollers 16 of the planer. As will be noted, the work guide 12 is spacedtransversely of the bed 14 from the straight edge member 18 of thewoodworking machine, the board B being fed through the machine in thespace between the work guide and said straight edge member. I

The illustrated woodworking machine is additionally provided with anelongated hold-down bar 20, the holddown bar being secured to thestraight edge member, and being adapted to prevent the board from movingupwardly off the bed 14 during the movement of the board between thefeed rollers.

In accordance with the present invention, the work guide 12 is formed toan elongated shape, and is ar ranged in spaced parallelism to thestraight edge .member 18 and hold-down bar 20. The guide is provided, inthis connection, with a rigid frame that can be formed of a pair offlat, spaced, parallel plates 22, 24, the plate 22 constituting a topplate and being spaced vertically of and above the plate 24. The plates22, 24 are of elongated, rectangular formation, and lie in horizontalplanes, said plates being fixedly connected in spaced relation by bolts26. A pair of bolts 26 is provided at each end of the frame, the heads'of the bolts being disposed in countersunk portions of the underside ofthe bottom plate 24 (see Figure 3). Circumposed about the shanks of therespective bolts 26 are spacer sleeves 28, which hold the plates 22, 24in the desired, predetermined, spaced relationship.

Intermediate the opposite ends of the plates, I provide a pair of sideby side pivot bolts 30, the pivot bolts 30 being extended between thetop and bottom plates and being-held in place by nuts threaded thereuponagainst the top plate. The pivot bolts 30 extend through corner openingsformed in spring support blocks 32, 34, said blocks being disposed inthe space between the plates 22, 24, and being independently pivoted forswinging movement toward and away from the straight edge member 18.

Formed in the block. 32, in spaced relation to the pivot axis thereof,is an end to end bore 36, said bore confronting a recess 38 formedin theblock 34. The recess 38 is in communication with the small diameter,threaded bore 40 formed in the block 34.

A coil spring 42 is seated in the bore 36 and recess 38, and extendsacross the space between the blocks 32, 34. The spring 42, at one end,abuts against a threaded plug 44, said plug 44 being engaged withcomplementary threads formed in the outer end of the bore 36. When theplug 44 is in place, the bore 36 can be appropriately termed a recess inthe block 32, thus to provide, in the blocks, confronting recessesreceiving the opposite ends of the coil spring.

The other end of the spring 42 abuts against a fiat head 46 formed uponthe inner end of a tension adjusting screw 48 threaded in the bore 40.The screw 48-has a nut 50 applied thereto, the nut 50 being threadableagainst the outer end surface of the block 34. It will be appreciatedthat the screw 48 can be threaded in a selected direction within thebore 40, thus to shift the head 46 to selected,

adjusted positions within the.. re cess The result is that the spring 42will be adjusted as to the tension thereof. whenever desired, for thepurpose of replacing the spring 42.

Swinging movement of the block 34 in one direct-ion is limited by a stopmeans provided upon ?the frame. The stop means, in theillustrated-example of the invention, is a bolt '52 extended between theplates 22, 24, the bolt 52 having a spacer sleeve circumposed thereaboutand being disposed between the adjacent connecting bolts 26 of theframe. It will be noted from Figure 4 that the bolt 52 is so disposed asto be located in the path of swinging movement of the block 34, thus toengage the adjacent end surface of the block 34 when the block is swungcounterclockwise as viewed in Figure 4.

The purpose of this arrangement is to cause the block 34 to be sodisposed, when aboard B is to be fed through the machine, as to permitthe board to be entered into the space between the work guide andstraight edge memberwith a minimum of difi'iculty.

The blocks 32, 34 are beveled on their corner end surfaces from alocation abreast of the pivot pins 39 to the adjacent inner sidesurfaces thereof, as shown at 53. This keeps thespring 42 under tensionat all times and prevents block 32 fromswinging too far in the directionofthe straight edge memberlS.

Still referring 'to Figure 4, the block 32 is provided, in that surfacethereof faced toward the straight edge member 18, with a shallow recessor depression 54, the bottom wall of said recess being disposedobliquely to the longitudinal center line of the block-32.

Similarly, block 34 hasa shallow recess 56, and seated in the recesses54, 56 are the inner ends of the leaf springs 58, 60.

The leaf springs 58, 60 are extended in opposite directions from theelongated frame of the work guide, and as will be noted from Figure 1,the spring 58 is, in the illustrated example of the invention, somewhatshorter in length than the spring 60. However, I believe it to be wellwithin the spirit of the invention to form both springs to the samelength. In any event, the inner ends of the springs are formed withopenings receiving screws or equivalent fastening elements, the blocks32, 34 having threaded recesses registering with the openings of theleaf springs for engagement of the anchoring screws therein. The leafsprings are thus fixedly secured at their inner ends to their associatedblocks.

At their outer ends, the leaf springs are curved in a direction awayfrom the straight edge member, thus to facilitate the insertion of theboard B or other length of wood stock.

It will be understood that initially, the work guide 12 will be adjustedtransversely of the bed 14 of the woodworking machine to a selectedposition. To this end, and as best shown in Figure 5, a slide block 62is fixedly secured to the underside of the lower plate 24 by means ofscrews 64, said slide block depending from the frame and having an endto end threaded bore in which is engaged an elongated adjusting screw66. The screw 66 extends within a slideway 68 formed in the bed 14, andis rotated by a hand wheel 70 or equivalent device. The slide block isslidably adjusted within the slideway 68 by rotation of the screw 66,thus to shift the work guide to a selected position upon the bed 14.Once the work guide is in this position, it is adapted to engage any ofvarious boards differing substantially from one another as to the widththereof. This characteristic obtains by reason of the fact that the leafsprings are pivoted bodily with their associated blocks under'the'p'ressure of the spring 42, thus causing the free ends of the leafsprings to be disposed at any of various distances from the straightedge member. in each position of the free ends of the leaf springs, theywill exert a firm but yielding pressure against the board, tending tobias the board laterally into contact with the straight edge member.

it is to be noted that the use of a stop means such as shown at 52causes the free end of the leaf spring 60 to be retained at a distancefrom the straight edge member 18 sufiicient to insure the feeding of oneend of the board into the space between the work guide and straight edgemember. This is true regardless of the width of said end of the board,the outwardly curved formation of the free end of the leaf spring beingadapted to define, in coopera- The plug 44, of 'c'eurse'ean be removedbodily tion with the straight edge member, a tapering throa'througlrwhichthe'board may 'beentered.

It is also to be noted that the independent pivoting of the blocks 32,34 permits the device to be used to advantage on boards the width ofwhich may change between the ends thereof. For example, in theillustrated embodiment, there is shown a board B which is wider at oneend than at the other. The difference has been shown clearly through theuse of an imaginary line extended in parallelism with the straight edgemember 13, said imaginary line being disposed at an acute angle to theadjacent side edge of the board. The imaginary line and said adjacentside edge form an included angle designated at A, and it will be seenthat the leaf spring 58 is spaced, by reason of this particularformation of the board, a greater distance from the straight edge member18 than is the free end of the leaf spring 60. This difference inspacing does not, however, affect adversely the functionalcharacteristics of the leaf springs, both of the springs being held infirm engagement with the length of wood stock at locations spacedlongitudinally of the stock.

By reason of the arrangement shown, it is possible to increaseproduction substantially, since it is not necessary for the worker tomake manual adjustments of the position of the spring guide, eachtime apiece of work is to be fed through the machine. 'Heretofore, when piecesof different widths are to be fed in succession through a woodworkingmachine, it has been necessary that a manual adjustment be effected inthe position of the work guide. In the illustrated example, after theinitial adjustment, the device can be used to advantage on both wide andnarrow boards.

It is believed apparent that 'the invention is not necessarily confinedto the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may beutilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the inventionto be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated anddescribed, since such construction is only intended to be illustrativeof the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carryout said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehendsany minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed is: p

l. A work guide for woodworking machines comprising; a frame mountableon the bed of a woodworking machine in spaced relation to a straightedge member of said machine, for disposition of a length of wood stockbetween the frame and said member; a pair of side-by-side spring supportblocks having contacting inner end surfaces, said blocks having frontsurfaces facing in the same general direction so as to be both locatablein straightedge-member-confronting positions, the blocks being pivotallyconnected independently of each other to the frame adjacent said end andfront surfaces for swinging movement about closely-spaced, parallelaxes, toward and away from said straight edge member; leaf springs eachfixed at one end to the front surface of the respective block forengaging a length of Wood stock, said springs extending longitudinallyof the blocks in opposite directions and flexing at their other endswithin a common plane normal to said axes; an abutment on the framelimiting swinging movement of one block in a forward direction towardsaid straight edge member; and resilient, yielding means disposedtransversely of the contacting end surfaces and held under compressionby and between the blocks so as to exert a continuous yielding pressureagainst the blocks tending to bias them in opposite directions abouttheir respective pivot axes, said means biasing said one block againstthe abutment and, in the abutmentengaged position of said one block,exerting its full pressure against the other block to shift the same ina forward direction.

2. A work guide for woodworking machines comprising; a frame mountableon the bed of a woodworking machine in spaced relation to a straightedge member of said machine, for disposition of a length of wood stockbetween the frame and said member; a pair of sidc-by-side spring supportblocks having contacting inner end surfaces, said blocks having frontsurfaces facing in the same general direction so as to be both locatablein straightedge-member-confronting positions,theblocks being pivotallyconnected independently of each other to the frame ad acent said end andfront surfaces for swinging movement about closely spaced, parallelaxes, toward and away from said straight edge member; leaf springs eachfixed at one end to the front surface of the respective block forengaging a length of wood stock, said springs extending between saidstraight edge member and the blocks, the springs extendinglongitudinally of the blocks in opposite directions and flexing at theirother ends within a common plane normal to said axes; an abutment on theframe limiting swinging movement of one block in a forward directiontoward said straight edge member; and resilient, yielding means disposedtransversely of the contacting end surfaces and held under compressionby and between the blocks so as to exert a continuous yielding pressureagainst the blocks tending to bias them in opposite directions abouttheir respective pivot axes, said means biasing said one block againstthe abutment and, in the abutment-engaged position of said one block,exerting its full pressure against the other block to shift the same ina forward direction, said blocks having their inner end surfaces beveledat the intersection of the end surfaces with the front surfaces, saidbeveled surfaces contacting following movement of said other block inits forward direction over a predetermined distance, to limit themovement of said other block under pressure of said means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS475,782 Luger May 31, 1892 578,826 Luther Mar. 16, 1897 717,593 MeyerJan. 6, 1903 877,878 Anderson Ian. 28, 1908 2,525,894 Graham Oct. 17,1950 2,578,516 Crow Dec. 11, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 639,869 France Mar.17, 1928 788,174 France July 22, 1935

